The Globe Radio Repertory was founded in Seattle in 1982 to bring the classics of world literature to a new and wider audience. Radio was chosen as medium because it communicates best the essential qualities of classical literature; namely, strong plots and vivid characters fashioned out of a use of language whose roots lie in oral tradition.

The Globe produced four major series over the next decade, beginning with Don Quixote, and subsequently, Dead Souls, Madame Bovary, and last, 16 Stories by Anton Chekhov. Each dramatization was adapted by writer John Siscoe in collaboration with writer/director Jean Sherrard. Their scholarly advisors ranged from Roger Shattuck to Donald Fanger to Francis Steegmuller (the brilliant translator of a monumental Madame Bovary). The show aired on NPR Playhouse and in English speaking nations around the world.